The U.S. Congress Wednesday approved a bill extending the closing deadline for homebuyers trying to take advantage of a popular tax credit. Homebuyers with contracts signed by April 30 who failed to go to closing by the June 30 deadline will now have until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases. Get the full story »
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Homebuyers closer to getting more time for tax credit
The House of Representatives Tuesday approved giving extra time to homebuyers trying to get a popular federal tax credit by the end of the month.
The House voted 409-5 to extend the closing deadline to Sept. 30 for buyers who met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current deadline requires those buyers to close the transaction by June 30 to receive the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Get the full story »
Corus fights to keep $257M in tax refunds
The parent of Chicago’s Corus Bank has moved to head off a grab by federal regulators at more than $257 million in tax refunds stemming from the bank’s collapse. Get the full story »
Inmates booked $9.1M in homebuyer tax credits
Another report is out looking at fraudulent activity related to the homebuyer tax credit and this one’s got a new wrinkle.
Almost 1,300 prisoners in jail – including 241 serving life sentences — wrongly received $9.1 million in credits for home purchases they purported to make while in jail. Another 2,555 improperly received $17.6 million for home purchases made before the tax credit became effective, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, 1.8 million taxpayers received $12.6 billion in homebuyer credits before March.
But that doesn’t mean 1.8 million homes were sold. The agency found that 10, 282 taxpayers received a credit for buying the same home as was used by other taxpayers for the credit. In fact, 67 taxpayers used one house. Auditors said the erroneous credits are likely to add up to tens of millions of dollars.
Morningstar to offer new research on 529 plans
Morningstar Inc. is unveiling new research tools designed to simplify the task of weeding out the plans that have gotten increasingly complex even as they become more popular for their tax breaks. Get the full story »
Senate votes to extend tax credit to home buyers
Associated Press | The Senate has approved a plan to give
home buyers an extra three months to finish qualifying for federal tax
incentives that boosted home sales this spring.
The move by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would give buyers
until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases and qualify for tax credits
of up to $8,000. Under the current terms, buyers had until April 30 to
get a signed sales contract and until June 30 to close the sale.
Attorney John Ohle convicted in tax shelter scheme
By Ameet Sachdev |
A Chicago attorney was found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy related to
the sale of tax shelters sold by his former employer.
John Ohle, 42, of Wilmette, also was found guilty of two counts of tax
evasion for failure to report millions of dollars he embezzled from a
trust and fraudulent tax shelter deductions. The conviction came after a
three-week trial in New York.
New home sales surge 14.8% as tax credit ends
A house for sale in Ohio on May 20. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
Associated Press | Sales of new homes posted another large gain in April as buyers rushed to sign contracts before government tax credits expired. The Commerce Department says sales of new single-family homes jumped 14.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 units. The April gain followed a 29.8 percent surge in March, the biggest monthly increase in 47 years.
Activity in both months was pushed higher by a stampede of buyers trying to sign sales contracts before tax credits expired on April 30. The concern, however, is that sales will slump in coming months given all the problems still facing households.
Report: ‘Tweaks’ will fix Social Security shortfall
Associated Press | A new report from Congress says Social
Security’s big shortfall can be wiped out with just modest changes to
payroll taxes and benefits.
The report by the Senate Special Committee on Aging says Social
Security faces a $5.3 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years. But
the massive government retirement program can be made healthy and whole
through what the committee’s chairman describes as small “tweaks.”
Magazine: Illinois among worst states for business
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | The
good news is CEOs don’t think any any less of Illinois’ business
climate than they did a year ago. The bad news is there are only five
states considered to be worse places to do business in than Illinois.
For the second year in a row, Illinois nabbed spot No. 46 on Chief
Executive magazine’s annual ranking of the best and worst states. The
results, derived from a survey of 641 CEOs across the country, looked
at issues like proximity to markets and resources, regulation, tax
policies, workforce quality, educational resources, quality of living
and infrastructure.
Tootsie Roll sugar tariff exemption envied
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Tootsie Roll Industries’ likely exclusive exemption on a tariff on sugar make it the envy of the candy industry and valuable to potential suitors who would inherit the tax break if they were to buy the company.
Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com
Federal judge shuts down Joliet tax business
Tribune staff report | A federal judge in Chicago shut down a Joliet, Ill., tax preparer’s business, issuing a preliminary injunction against Sidney Dove and Sid’s Tax Service, the Justice Department said Friday. The court found that Dove had prepared tax returns for customers containing false itemized deductions, and false business and rental expense deductions.
To read the ruling, click
here.
Meet the 47% who don’t pay taxes
From the New York Times | By now you’ve heard of those 47 percent of Americans who pay no income taxes. Bet you’re wondering who they are.
Read the full story: nytimes.com
Previously: 47% of U.S. households will pay no income tax.
Number of Illinois tax e-filers is up
Associated Press | The Illinois Department of Revenue says online filing of individual tax returns has jumped 2 percent over last year. That translates into about nearly 2 million tax returns filed so far this year.
April 9 is tax freedom day
McClatchy-Tribune News | Today is Tax Freedom Day for the average U.S. taxpayer, meaning it took
99 days to pay our taxes in 2010, to render unto “Uncle Sam” what is
his.
On average, Americans will pay 26.9 percent of their
yearly income toward taxes, according to
calculations of the Tax Foundation, a group that has monitored such
data since 1948.
